23 May 2002 University Paper in Employment Relations Approved for Paid Leave

Employment relations education has taken a leap forward with the approval for Employment Relations Education Leave of the Lincoln University paper Employment Relations and Personnel Management.

It is the first university subject to be approved under this leave provision.

Employment Relations and Personnel Management is taught on campus at Lincoln and also as part of the University's distance learning programme, known as Regional Education.

The distance delivery option is ideal for those at work or tied by family commitments during the day.

The subject, offered in the Lincoln's second semester starting 1 July, is divided into 12 weekly modules which require the student to do some reading, complete some exercises and questions, and generally prepare for the weekly class meeting, tutorial or discussion group.

In Christchurch the distance delivery class meetings take place at the Canterbury Innovation Incubator, 200 Armagh Street. If there are sufficient students in any other locality a tutor is found for them, otherwise they are joined by telephone conference with the group in Christchurch, where the subject examiner, Senior Lecturer Dr Rupert Tipples, is also the tutor.

To gain approval for paid educational leave purposes, it had to be shown that the course provided basic information about the rights and obligations of employers and employees, unions and union members.

To qualify for Employment Relations Education Leave candidates must be union members working under or negotiating a collective agreement who have been nominated by their union and have obtained the agreement of their employer.

For further details about paid educational leave, contact the Employment Relations Service Infoline or email the Employment Relations Service Education Leave Coordinator direct (john.o'brien@ers.dol.govt.nz), or by telephone (04-915-4552) or fax (04-915-4567).

Employment Relations and Personnel Management as a subject is built around key ideas which provide a structure to the material being covered. It is different to human resources management in two ways. First, its focus is on people as thinking, feeling, perceiving beings, not inanimate "human resources", and secondly it is directed at those involved with or working for the small and micro-sized enterprises which make up 99 percent of New Zealand businesses and employ 54 percent of New Zealand employees.

The key concepts include: 'What is small business?', labour markets, the contract of employment, psychological contracts in employment, realistic recruitment, performance management, and the use of a diagnostic approach to organisational problems.

For further information contact Dr Rupert Tipples, Applied Management and Computing Division, P 0 Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury; phone (03) 3253859, fax. (03) 3253839, email: tipplesr@lincoln.ac.nz.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.